Where are we going? What do we want? How about a strategic plan for making the second half of life your most bumptiously bodacious time of all? You’re meant to keep on growing all your life, but it won’t happen by itself. It’s up to you. You have the power. Here’s how!

Life is an Attitude: How to Grow Forever Better, Dottie Billington, Ph.D. offers midlife and senior men and women a roadmap for creating the life they want–exhilarating, passionate, meaningful–the time for discovering your full potential.

Attitude is everything. Dr. Dottie shares 10 Secrets for developing an attitude that will allow you to grow forever better.

Find your passion–and pursue it. The most powerful force on earth is the human soul on fire–so fire up your soul and find your passion! How? Ask what excites, delights, absorbs, challenges, energizes you. What subjects do you love to talk, think, read about? What do you enjoy doing and do well?

Realize change is inevitable–so choose your path. All things change––mountains wear away, continents drift apart, cells in your body continually die off and are replaced by new cells. None of us can remain the same. We continue to learn and grow, or we regress–slide backwards.

Create more satisfying relationships and friendships. From Life is an Attitude learn ways to create winning relationships, such as ‘The First 3 Minute Technique,” the “Power of Listening,” and many more. People forget what you said, they forget what you did, but they always remember how you made them feel.

Deflate your problems by massaging them. We all experience problems that drive us so crazy we can’t think straight. An amazing technique helps work through those maddening situations. It’s fun. It works. Sit down and write out all your frustrations and feelings, worries and questions about the issue–whatever comes out. Take enough time to turn the problem over and around in your mind.

Learn the magic of a smile. We all know our moods affect our facial expressions. But did you know your facial expression also affects your mood? Smiling triggers the release of chemicals related to happiness, while frowning triggers the release of chemicals related to unhappiness.

Experience the power of openness. We’ve all seen too many older people become evermore narrow and opinionated. They seem to be stuck! How to avoid that fate? Realize there are over 6 billion people on earth, and every single person sees “truth” through their own eyes–no two think exactly the same.

Said Abe Lincoln, “Most people are just about as happy as they decide to be” and that’s so true. Happiness can survive the loss, suffering, and grief that are part of all our lives–and make us stronger. What matters most is not what happens to you, but how you react–and you alone have the power to decide. True happiness consists of getting out of yourself, of focusing your attention on the world instead of yourself. That means creating an active life and absorbing interests. And knowing when to be thankful.

Use the Iceball Technique to reduce daily stress. Stress hobbles our effectiveness in everything we do–it undermines our physical, mental, and emotional health. Bring it down to size by asking if whatever is stressing you will really matter in a billion years, when Earth has turned into an iceball. Or will it even matter a year from now?

Exercise your body–and your brain. We now know we can grow our brains as long as we live, no matter our age. When we challenge our brains, they grow. The outworn idea that older brains inevitably deteriorate is simply not true! Our brain is like our muscles––use it or lose it. Get involved in a wide variety of activities. Develop new interests. Keep your mental antennae rotating, looking for new experiences, new challenges, new things to learn.

Achieve balance by prioritizing. You can’t do it all. So decide what’s most important to you and your loved ones, and make a prioritized list. Then focus on what really matters–and relax about the rest. This will simplify your life, help you live more effectively, and reduce stress.

Life is an Attitude: How to Grow Forever Better (ISBN 0967183707), published by Lowell Leigh Books, retails for $12.95 and is available nationally at local and online bookstores.For information: (800) 949-4416, www.AdultGrowth.com